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Topic Review (Newest First)

01-28-2014 02:25 PM

rahlcepx516

Instead of a few months, how about a year? :P

This was about 3 months in.

I decided to not prune about 8 months in.

My riparium plants from Hydrophyte flowering a little.

12-03-2012 06:41 PM

Oxl

Wow those boulders made such a huge difference! Can't wait to see it in a few months grown in...

12-03-2012 06:36 PM

Kathyy

WOW!

I love it. Very dramatic and looks just like the edge of a rocky bank to me. The crevices are planted, the rocks have a lot of texture, the roots coming out of the rocks. Very bold scale. Love the color of the substrate with the rock color.

12-03-2012 06:32 PM

Diana

That is really a great improvement! Really nice!

The rock is smooth enough to work with water.
The rock is large enough to make it look good in this size tank, and the mixed sizes are very natural.
The color works well with the substrate.
The layout is off center, not symmetrical. This is very good.

Love the 'root' coming out between the rocks! That is great!

It will be nice to see this as the plants grow in. Please keep updating us!

12-03-2012 06:14 PM

rahlcepx516

So, I found some river rocks. :P

I took the advice from both of you and molded it into what I was thinking.

How did I do?

11-01-2012 01:49 AM

rahlcepx516

0.0 A lot to think about. Put a lot of creative images in my mind too!

How do you feel about what color of river stone I put in? The most concern i have is the contrast with the lava rock. If need be I have no issues uprooting all the substrate and starting over, but I have no idea how a group of river stones might look.

10-31-2012 11:55 PM

Diana

Feather stone is (around here, anyway) an incredibly sharp lava rock. It is probably neutral as far as water chemistry, but it is so sharp I would not want it in a tank.

Look at natural streams and see what you are looking for. A few concepts:

Faster flowing water blows everything away that is not heavy enough to stay put. In a very fast stream (Hillstream Loach fast) the substrate will be rounded river rock, or cobbles, and smaller pebbles, but not sand and certainly not soil. A little sand or fine gravel might exist between large enough rocks that the current does not carry it away, but any plant that gets rooted there would get its leaves destroyed. The way to make this sort of stream work is to use mosses and algae that grow flat on the rocks, and small, very sturdy plants like Dwarf or Nana Anubias tucked between the rocks. Nothing tall, nothing streaming. Plants hanging over from the bank would likely have all their leaves stripped out.

Somewhat slower water, but still quite active might have some back water, a quiet spot hollowed into the bank or some similar protected spot that plants might grow pretty well. If the bank caved in there would be tree roots exposed. This could be done with cobbles, river rock, rounded pebbles at the front of the tank (perhaps cutting across at an angle) then a strip of planting area (not a straight line!), and 'driftwood' against the back wall to represent the roots. Plants might grow attached to the roots (anubias, java fern, bolbitis).

10-31-2012 08:54 PM

rahlcepx516

Just got some confirmation back from the guy I got them from.
"Staurogyne Acanthaceae"
So you were right off the bat xD

No, I haven't browsed them before, but I will definitely check them out now

I appreciate the help Kathy.

Also, I got in touch with some landscape suppliers around me, and they had some boulders of "Feather rock" "Black Ice stone" and some other misc rocks. I know feather stone would work, but not sure about black ice stone... Still no supplier for river rocks though.

10-31-2012 06:26 PM

Kathyy

I wouldn't want to take the Anubias off either, just lean the wood and/or place it off center. The Anubias is too high and too centered as is for my taste. It really isn't a problem to pull them off to try something else with them, first time was the hardest. I thought they looked plastic and resisted but now I love the way they settle in where ever I stick them and look good really quickly.

I would lay a 'stream bed' that is at maximum 1/5 the width of the tank at the front and have it start at about 1/3 from the left and curve to about 2/3s from the left at the rear and be pretty much gone at that point. The crypts would gracefully curve over the stones and it would probably nearly vanish. Then have the stone formation starting at about 2/3s from the left a bit away from the rear of the tank so there is a mysterious place back there.

Have you looked at the IAPLC top 200? There are a few very nice edge of the stream type layouts there. Looking at only the small photos I see 132 and 169. 108 is a very interesting one that looks like a snag in a river bottom to me. The other two are both looking at the wall of the stream bed and emphasizing the top and slope rather than the bottom but no reason why you cannot be emphasizing the bed itself or use a diagonal line so you need less vertical space filled with hard scape and have more room for the crypts. http://en.iaplc.com/results12/top200vote/

Interesting plant! Guess the best thing to do would be take a couple of good clear shots and post them in a thread of its own.

10-30-2012 10:24 PM

rahlcepx516

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kathyy

Pretty! The crypts are so nice looking.

What about pushing the crypts to either side a little and making a stream from small river rocks through them? Don't center it, put it to one side a little and make it narrower in the back than the front. Use the smaller stones to the rear as well.

I am not a fan of the presentation of the Anubias. Is it on a bit of wood? If so you could put it at an angle overhanging the 'stream'? And could the end of the wood be anchored with a number of larger river rocks extending about 1/3 of the height of the tank?

Effect might be that of a stream diverted by a rocky outcropping with an old log or tree overgrown with epiphytes. Well, in my eye and maybe yours. It likely would just be a nice looking tank to most people.

Could the unknown plant be some sort of Hygrophilia?

Hey Kathy! Thanks for the reply =D

By either side, do you mean split between front and back leaving a space open down the middle length wise? Or just from the back right corner to somewhere up front, or maybe spanning to the front left corner? I guess the majority size of rocks you mean would probably clear things up for me. I feel like the substrate needs work in terms of slope, and some larger rocks probably need placed on the upper right side.

The plant I do not believe is hygro. The person who gave it to me some 2 years back said it was a rarely seen species in the hobby, and before I got rid of it, he would want it back :P I'll see if I can't dig up the name.

Yeah, the anubias are on DW. I have another tank they can be transplanted to if need be. I have been growing them on that wood for about 3 years now (started with 3), so I definitely don't want to strip it for the wood. I agree about the presentation being poor. I do however, have more DW I can use to simulate what you are talking about though.

So essentially it would be river stones creating a river within the lava rock, and the lava rock being the, er, "land" portion off of the river?

What I had always initially imagined would to recreate taking a slice out of a mountain stream. So hard to put to practice xD

10-30-2012 08:26 PM

Kathyy

Pretty! The crypts are so nice looking.

What about pushing the crypts to either side a little and making a stream from small river rocks through them? Don't center it, put it to one side a little and make it narrower in the back than the front. Use the smaller stones to the rear as well.

I am not a fan of the presentation of the Anubias. Is it on a bit of wood? If so you could put it at an angle overhanging the 'stream'? And could the end of the wood be anchored with a number of larger river rocks extending about 1/3 of the height of the tank?

Effect might be that of a stream diverted by a rocky outcropping with an old log or tree overgrown with epiphytes. Well, in my eye and maybe yours. It likely would just be a nice looking tank to most people.

Could the unknown plant be some sort of Hygrophilia?

10-30-2012 04:27 PM

rahlcepx516

Need creative help 75 gallon scaping

The goal I am shooting for is a stream. I know I kicked myself in the arse a bit with picking lava rock as the substrate, but I couldn't say no for the price I got it at.

I am considering on getting some rocks, but unsure on where I should place them, or what sizes/colors I should get, etc. Any creative help is welcome and appreciated!

As you can tell, I just threw some plants in and let them grow out some to see how things went, but I am still having creative issues. not sure if I need to add more place or take plants out. Maybe a few large covering plants?